1950 'Bel-Air' on a Caprice Frame/Chassis

[christcrusader13]

Hello all!

I figured I would take you all along the journey of this low budget 'resto-mod' on an old piece of work I found in the hills of Tennessee...

I picked up this Chevy in hopes of building a low buck cruiser, not a show car. The 'Belle' has already been sub-framed, with what looked to be an S-10 clip up front.

[christcrusader13]

After removing the front end and Looking further into the S-10 Sub-frame... it looked to be a MESS!!!! Plus, belle was in need of some floor pans....so I started looking into some alternates... I have my 40 Chevy on a S-10 frame and decided to go a different route on this one. I looked into a caprice and the wheelbase seemed close enough, although the track was a little wide, but I think an offset wheel can fix that issue. So, the hunt began for a low buck caprice to get everything I needed to complete the swap.

[christcrusader13]

After hitting CL for a while and getting the usual.. no response.... I was fortunate enough to some across an auction and scooped up an 83 Caprice for a donor. this would take care of a solid frame, disc brakes, floors and drive-train, the engine didn't run, but I have a couple sitting around so that's no issue. After hitting up the scrap yard with what was left over I only have $200 in the caprice setting the budget at $1200 thus far....

[christcrusader13]

Next step is joining the two halves together...

The rockers of the Caprice were cut back flush to the frame and the floor board of the 50 Chevy Bel-Air was cut back within 1.5" of the door sill. This allowed the body to fit right over the caprices floor system. I also cut the fire walls in half to have a better matted look under the hood.

[SuperBuickGuy]

so far so cool, thanks!

[christcrusader13]

so far so cool, thanks!

Thanks!

I like your avatar... my dad has a couple 76's and an 80 vette

[christcrusader13]

A bit more channeling in the works to get the body to fit down on the chassis the way I was wanting. I also ended up swapping to a smaller tire up font at the 27" tall tires up front were way too big for the fender-wells especially with the wider track width of the caprice. the rear seems to fit very well, it looks like I could even run skirts in the rear if I wanted to. Channeling the body and trimming off the rear of the trunk area are the next steps to snugly fit these two together. I've attached some pictures of joining areas... The firewalls worked out great on the passenger side, I have a little work rolling back the driver side as it was deeper to allow space for pedal, is what another hot-rodder told me.

I will be adding some 'L' metal between the two to clean up the channel and join the bodies together completely.

[STINEY]

Thanks for posting up the progress pictures! I've been wanting to see step-by-step how this was done (Chad never did post up how he did Rusty)

Uber-cool indeed. Can't wait for the next installment.

[christcrusader13]

UPDATE!

I've got some good news and some blech! LOL

Anyways, worked through the weekend around some evangelistic events and got the Chevy running ans driving by Monday morning. I had a weird popping in the carb and thought it was a bad Q-jet(fairly common) so I swapped it with the one off the caprice still had the same thing, so....

I threw it in gear did a little loop around the neighbor hood, topped off the power-steering, which leaked when I did the engine swap and the reservoir turned over....

Then I headed for my dads garage about 9 miles away.

So the maiden voyage was a success!

I decided to pull the intake a got to a torker that I had sitting around and upon doing to is when I found the BLECH! I'll let the photos explain, but it looks like that motor hadn't had the oil changed in a VERY long time I was like removing carbon bricks from around the push rods and engine valley...

I'm hoping to throw another carb on and after cleaning it up and hopefully the collapsing lifter , which is what I'm sure was causing the popping will may be hopefully heal itself? If not plan C...or is it D... or maybe E

Anyways, the car drove very well, stopped great and even took the corners well

I built a battery holder out of the old Caprice battery tray and a piece of square tube I had lying around....
I also reused the Cprices's radiator
Threw in some camaro buckets for the road-trip
used the caprice lap belt for a seatbelt

So three weeks from the day I picked up the carprice from auction I've body swapped the Bel-Air and driven it down the road.. not too bad... Looks like once I get the engine logistics worked out i'll move onto the body.

[Russell]

I really like this project! did you know the fire wall was going to fit so well together and still have the wheels in the wells? Thats pretty cool to see what changes and really want stays the same. Bummer on the oil bricks.

[christcrusader13]

I really like this project! did you know the fire wall was going to fit so well together and still have the wheels in the wells? Thats pretty cool to see what changes and really want stays the same. Bummer on the oil bricks.

I honestly had no idea about the two firewalls working out that well... I knew the wheel base was close, but other than that... it was all just a 'let's see what happens'

[Beagle]

Plan D is real common around here... E is for Excellent, so there's always that to fall back on!!

What kind of seats are these?

[silver_bullet]

third generation base model camaro

[silver_bullet]

save the asphalt for patching the driveway... trust me it has been done and works!
love the easy access fuel filler!

this is a great build, and is giving me many, many bad ideas!

[christcrusader13]

Plan D is real common around here... E is for Excellent, so there's always that to fall back on!!

What kind of seats are these?

Silverbullet nailed it, these are 3rd gen camaro seats.... I've also tired a saab seat... looks like I'll have to make some tracks that are taller because I couldn't see very well, which didn't bother me because the 1st vehicle I drove was a 76 corvette and you cant see squat out of those...LOL

Threw the other carb on and got all the vacuum leaks eliminated and now the popping is very minimal... with the help of Mr. Good-wrench AKA my Dad... got the timing better then where is was and it looks like there is just one lifter that is possibly just a little stubborn, so the plan is to run some marvel mystery oil or motor flush through it, and driver her around and see if it clears up.... other wise it's plan 'C' which is the Tune Port motor sitting in the garage